St. Patrick Episcopal Church 232 East Main Street Lebanon, Ohio 45036

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1 St. Patrick Episcopal Church 232 East Main Street Lebanon, Ohio The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. These are Paul s words written in his letter to the Philippian church. In these days when our hearts and minds are deeply troubled over one more school shooting and a number of other difficult and painful realities in our world, we long for this peace of God, which surpasses our understanding. I commend Paul s letter to the Philippians to you and as you read it you will see that this peace doesn t come without some work on our part. Jesus does not wave a magic wand and take away our angst and pain. He bids us follow him in a way of life. It is this way of life that promises to bring us the peace that surpasses understanding. Today I focus on one passage in his letter. Sunday Worship Services 8:00 a.m. & 10:30 a.m. The Rt. Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal Bishop of Southern Ohio The Rev. Jacqueline Matisse, Rector Nancy Smith, Vestry, Senior Warden Bill Lasher, Vestry, Junior Warden Damian Stout, Choir Director Jack Hasty, Organist Marjorie Donovan, Music Director Emeritus Vestry Jeff Lane, Financial Secretary Trischa Goodwin Vestal Hipp Wayne Spary, Treasurer Steve Belknap Jill Lane Bill Lasher, Stewardship Matt Lang Linda Powers Gretchen Hautzinger, Office Manager Harry Pritchard Jill Lane, Children s Education Our Mission: To take the love of Christ into the World If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death_ even death on a cross. We hear, in these words, what it means to be of one mind in Christ. It does not mean we will all agree on every issue facing our increasingly complex world. That is not the reality of church. What it does mean is that we will live our lives learning how to love one another well. We will come together with all the baggage of our individual lives, all our perceptions of the world and how it should be and commit to the very difficult work of learning to discern what is truly best, not only for ourselves, but for the other person as well. We will learn to listen to one another and most importantly to listen for the voice of God. We will seek the common good and look to Jesus way, not our understanding for what that common good is. I think of the simple, and helpful way to view the cross. We open our selves, our souls and bodies, to God, reaching for understanding that is beyond ours, and we open our arms wide, reaching to each other, open to the Christ, that is in the other. In that vertical and horizontal stretch our hearts will expand and make room for the peace that surpasses our understanding. Jesus gave his life that we might know that peace. A peace that in the words of a poem by William Alexander Percy filled their hearts brimful and broke them too. (Whole poem is found as hymn 661 in our hymnal) (Jackie continued )

2 I am pondering ways we might come together to pray with and listen to one another that we might be filled brimful and broken too, becoming more and more a Christ filled community of peace. This is the work which will gift a hurting and broken world. Please share your ideas. Jackie HOLY WEEK AND EASTER Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday on March 25th. We will worship together on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings at 7pm and Saturday morning at 9. Wednesday evenings worship is different every year and designed to help us journey to the cross. Thursday, we celebrate Jesus last supper with his disciples. We do this around a table, with a simple meal. Friday is the traditional Good Friday liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer. Saturday morning is a vigil kept at the graveside, a chance to reflect on Jesus life with us. Easter Sunday begins the fifty great days of celebrating the Resurrection. We will gather at 8 and 10:30. I encourage all who can to participate in Holy Week. If you need child care to make that possible let me know and it will be arranged. If you need a ride because you no longer drive at night let us know and we will arrange a ride. BISHOP BREIDENTHAL S MESSAGE I have just read and commend Bishop Breidenthal s message to the diocese on the recent school shooting. Many thoughtful articles are published either in the diocesan Connections or in s from the bishop. If you are not receiving these please let Jackie know and I will see that you are added to the diocesan mailing list. WORKSHOP INVITATION On Saturday, March 9th, the Diocese is offering a presentation and workshop on creative ways to bring the gospel to our neighbors. This isn t a more traditional church growth presentation in the sense of finding ways to get more people to come to church. It is about how to take the love of Christ into the world in ways that truly engage and excite people. It is about following Jesus into the world so that more and more people might be touched by God s love, including those of us who are doing the taking! I plan to attend and would like very much to take a group of people from St. Patrick s with me. There is no cost and it promises to be a fulfilling day. The workshop will be held at Church of the Redeemer in Hyde Park. I ve posted the announcement on the bulletin board by the back entrance. Please let Jackie know if you can attend. Jackie Just Around the Corner by Bill Lasher I went to work on my first day at U. C. in order to attend a department-wide annual meeting. We had a very large room, with huge windows, and a table large enough to serve Locksley Hall. A few minutes after we started, I noticed the room was getting darker, and then taking on a gray color. I looked around and found that 48 faculty members were smoking, and only two of us were not. The room got darker and grayer, and coughing broke out. Finally, someone suggested that we open those large windows. It took three votes to do that: Should we open the windows? (Yes) How many? (One) How far open? (6 to 8 inches)! This was it the beginning of the Smoking Wars, which continued for 40 years, well past my retirement. People argued about where smoking would be allowed, even in meetings that had more important goals. One year the vote was for smokers to sit on the outside wall and blow smoke out the windows, while non-smokers sat against the opposite wall and prayed. There are always voting battles going on, of course, and we try to convince, console or just overwhelm the opposition. All those things are certainly better than the actual battles that have dotted history when people disagree. In our current system, there are times when you lose even when you thought you had won. U. C. had chosen Pepsi over Coke in the great Cola Wars competition, and I was pleased. I like Pepsi, and wouldn t miss the Coke machine. However, about a month after the Pepsi machine entered our coffee room it was gone! The ladies in charge decided that no one drinks Pepsi without taking a vote and had the machine removed. Now you can only get a cup of coffee. Sometimes losing a vote feels better than not getting a chance to cast one. The smokers I worked with weren t trying to harm the rest of us: they just weren t listening to the latest research. That s a pretty fair description of many Americans, because we have a high degree of freedom and choice. Making a choice for the greater good of the community is often hard to do, until we recall that having no choice at all is worse. One area where this situation can be very different is in a church: members can give money, work and even direction when needed. Not only do individuals volunteer to help the church without pay, they also approve and assist in efforts to help others as we do with the Homework Club, Interfaith Hospitality, and many other selfless efforts we engage in. It s a long way from Close that window to Could I help you fix your window or from We don t have any of that to Come in and sit at table with us.

3 ALTAR SERVERS & PEOPLE OF THE WEEK LAY READER TEXT MARCH MARCH 4 MARCH 25 10:30 a.m. 10:30 a.m. C Dana C Dana BB Maria BB Christiana US Trish Simonton & Brian Sandlin US Brian Gluntz & Skip Scruby P Matt & Bonnie Lang & Family P Ruth Lokey T Smith & Summers T Smith & Morris G Trish G Carol A June & Vestal A Rosemary, Gloria, & Ginnie C. MARCH 11 APRIL 1 10:30 a.m. 10:30 a.m. C Marshall C Marshall BB Adam BB Maria US Larry Benning & David Johnson US Dick Wolford & Trish Simonton P Bill & Mary Lasher P Marilyn McMurray T Lane & Johnson T Lane & Wolford G Linda G Ruth A Caroline, Leo, & Jill A Ginny & Molly MARCH 18 10:30 a.m. A = Altar Guild C Brady BB = Book Bearer BB Kacee C = Crucifer US Norman Bucher & Kevin O Brien G = Greeter P Marilyn Lee P = Persons of the Week T Simonton & Wolford T = Tellers G Gloria US = Ushers A Lisa & Trischa The Third Sunday in Lent March 4 8:00 a.m. Pat George 10:30 a.m. Nancy Smith Steve Belknap Exodus 20:1-7 Psalm 19 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 John 2:13-22 The Fourth Sunday in Lent March 11 8:00 a.m. Dan Berger 10:30 a.m. Dana Davis Becca McLaughlin Numbers 21:4-9 Psalm 107:1-3,17-22 Ephesians 2:1-10 John 3:14-21 The Fifth Sunday in Lent March 18 8:00 a.m. Trischa Goodwin 10:30 a.m. Brian Gluntz Jean Benning Jeremiah 31:31-34 Psalm 119:9-16 Hebrews 5:5-10 John 12:20-33 Palm Sunday March 25 8:00 a.m. Earl Edmonds 10:30 a.m. Steve Belknap Nancy Smith Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 31:9-16 Philippians 2:5-11 Mark 15:1-39 Easter Sunday April 1 8:00 a.m. Pat George 10:30 a.m. Becca McLaughlin Brian Gluntz Isaiah 25:6-9 Psalm 19 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Mark 16:1-8

4 March 2018 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 6:00 p.m. Men s Dinner 9:30 a.m. Silent Saturday David 8 Chad 9 John and Charles Wesley 10 Paul Cuffee William W. Mayo, Charles F Menninger, and Their Sons 13 Perpetua and her Companions 14 Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy Gregory Gregory the Great James Theodore Holly Patrick 24 Cyril 25 Saint Joseph 26 Thomas Ken 27 Thomas Cranmer 28 James De Koven 29 Gregory the Illuminator 30 Óscar Romero and the Martyrs of El Salvador 9:00 a.m. Holy Week 31 Palm Sunday The Annunciation of Our Lord Richard Allen Charles Henry Brent Maundy Thursday John Keble Good Friday Innocent of Alaska Holy Saturday John Donne

5 John and Charles Wesley Priests, 1791, 1788 MARDI GRAS DINNER A GREAT SUCCESS This year s Mardi Gras dinner was a tremendous success for our Youth Group. We had a great turn-out, and as usual, our congregation demonstrated great support for this event. Multiple donations were given, and a packed crowd enjoyed a great dinner. We want to thank Bill Ubbes, Bill Hardie, and Dan Berger for preparing the food for our dinner. We also want to thank Chris Carey who helped us in the kitchen. The dinner raised over $1200 which is the most that this event has ever raised. Thank you to all of our congregation who continues to show such great support for our Youth Group, and thank you to Gloria Giannestras for again serving as our Mardi Gras Queen. Earl & Carlotta John was the fifteenth, and Charles the eighteenth, child of Samuel Wesley, Rector of Epworth, Lincolnshire. John was born June 17, 1703, and Charles, December 18, The lives and fortunes of the brothers were closely intertwined. As founders and leaders of the Methodist or evangelical revival in eighteenth-century England, their continuing influence redounds throughout the world and is felt in many Churches. Although their theological writings and sermons are still widely appreciated, it is through their hymns especially those of Charles, who wrote over six thousand of them that their religious experience, and their Christian faith and life, continue to affect the hearts of many. Both brothers were profoundly attached to the doctrine and worship of the Church of England; and no amount of abuse and opposition to their cause and methods ever shook their confidence in, and love of it. Both Wesleys were educated at Christ Church, Oxford. It was there that they gathered a few friends to join in strict adherence to the worship and discipline of the Prayer Book, and were thus given the name Methodists. John was ordained in 1728 and Charles in MEN S DINNER The Men's Dinner Group will meet again on the first Thursday, MARCH 1, 6:00 p.m. at Blackhorse Tavern. Hope to see you there. Tom Campbell The two brothers went together to Georgia in 1735, John as a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and Charles as secretary to James Oglethorpe, the Governor. Shortly after their return to England, they both experienced an inner conversion, Charles on May 21, 1738, and John on May 24, at a meeting in Aldersgate Street with a group of Moravians, during a reading of Luther s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. John recorded, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. So the revival was born. The later schism of the Methodists from the Church of England occurred after the death of the two brothers Charles on March 29, 1788, and John on March 2, 1791 but John s uncanonical ordinations of elders for America (bitterly opposed by Charles) doubtless set the basis for it. IN-REACH MINISTRY Do you need help or know of other church members who need temporary assistance with transportation, meals, child care, yard work, household chores, etc? If so, please contact Theresa Norris, March In-Reach Ministry coordinator. Her contact information can be found in the Church Directory or by calling St. Patrick s Lord God, you inspired your servants John and Charles Wesley with burning zeal for the sanctification of souls, and endowed them with eloquence in speech and song: Kindle in your Church, we entreat you, such fervor, that those whose faith has cooled may be warmed, and those who have not known Christ may turn to him and be saved; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints)